Sunday, May 11, 2008 HOME PAGE

TEACHING THE BIBLE FROM A STATE APPROVED CURRICULUM?   SB4104 by *Herron. (*HB4089 by *Maddox.)   AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to authorizing the state board of education to develop and adopt a curriculum for a state funded elective course consisting of a nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture, and politics. http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BILL/SB4104.pdf   1.     Can the Bible as history and/or literature be taught in public schools? Absolutely – it is fully constitutional and academic, non-sectarian Bible classes are presently being taught as electives all over the state and have been for years. A number of studies are used including the excellent National Council on Biblical Curriculum in Public Schools that is now in 12 Tennessee systems. See: http://www.bibleinschools.net/. The ongoing successful studies need to be left alone to flourish and local communities should remain free to pursue adding these classes as they see fit.   2.    Is this bill needed? NO. The State Board of Education has already promulgated curriculum requirements for these courses.   3.    Is a statewide, static Bible curriculum a good idea? Definitely not. Whether or not to have a Bible curriculum and what curriculum to use MUST be left up to the local school districts in conjunction with community needs and desires, not dictated from Nashville.   4.    Is developing a statewide curriculum problematic? YES. Americans of the Separation of Church and State have submitted a three-page letter filled with requirements for this legislation. That is evidence enough of how problematic developing a statewide curriculum would be.   5.    There is nothing ‘broken’ here that needs ‘fixing’.   The House K-12 Subcommittee: HB 4089 is scheduled for Tuesday April 1 at 10:30 a.m. Whether or not you have children in public schools, this concerns YOU because we all have to live with the product of public education. Contact these members and urge them to oppose this unnecessary legislation and to leave these important decisions up to the local education agencies. You can also ask sponsor Rep. Maddox not to run the bill. PLEASE be courteous and polite with your request! Joe Towns, Chair, 615-741-2189, rep.joe.towns@legislature.state.tn.us Tommie Brown, 615-741-4374, rep.tommie.brown@legislature.state.tn.us Ulysses Jones , 615-741-4575, rep.ulysses.jones@legislature.state.tn.us Mark Maddox, 615-741-7847, rep.mark.maddox@legislature.state.tn.us Larry Turner, 615-741-6954, rep.larry.turner@legislature.state.tn.us Les Winnngham, 615-741-6852, rep.leslie.winningham@legislature.state.tn.us   Both in the description and in the text of this proposal, it mentions ‘the Bible and its influence’which is a curriculum developed by the Bible Literacy Project.   Many believe that this curriculum presents the Bible as myth and stories rather than as truth and revelation, that it outlines the Bible but undermines its authority, that it quotes Scriptures, but adds mind-changing illustrations. Inviting human interpretations and speculations, that it instills new meanings in "open" minds.   SOME OF THE MANY TROUBLING PASSAGES FROM THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE, PROMOTED BY THE BIBLE LITERACY PROJECT Teacher’s Guide * Bible Literacy Project Textbook = BLP   P161 BLP textbook “Job is one of the most difficult books in the Bible in that it provides no clear cut moral or answer to Job’s situation.”   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P 81 BLP textbook “Gideon won the battle by a bit of trickery.”   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same. But the quote was moved to Page 83.   P 72 BLP textbook – “God’s help comes with strings attached – commandments or laws that the Israelites must obey in order to keep faith.”   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P 34 BLP textbook “By contrast, some traditions and philosophies see humans as no more sacred than other living creatures.”    Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P160 BLP textbook “The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.' [Job 42:12] This ending, though pleasing in some ways, has failed to satisfy various readers over the centuries.”    Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.                                         P50 BLP textbook It is always good to remember not to try to apply current standards to the biblical accounts.   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P50 BLP Textbook: Misquoted the Mayflower Compact by saying, “We whose names are underwritten…having undertaken a voyage to plant the first colony…do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and of one another, Covenant and Combine our selves together into a civil body politic.”   Teachers Edition: Corrected the misquote by printing the Mayflower Compact correctly, “In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects or our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Gory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick…   P65 BLP textbook American writer and reporter Lincoln Steffen’s 1926 defense of Leninist (Communist) politics was called ‘Moses in Red.’   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.                                                                                                                                         P117 BLP textbook - You’ve probably seen cartoon or movie depictions of the prophet of doom, a shaggy bearded individual in ragged robes, ranting from a soapbox or wearing a sandwich board sign that reads, The end is near”…   Teachers Edition: Omits “ranting from a soapbox or wearing a sandwich board that reads, “the end is near”.   163 BLP textbook - Hobbes used the biblical description of leviathan, the great beast subject to God alone, as a metaphor for the power of the state, the only institution he believes is capable of offering security and stability in a troubled world.   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P211 BLP textbook - The gospels are not histories—certainly not as history is defined today…   Teachers Edition: This verbiage still says that “…looking backward from a conviction that Jesus was risen from the dead and he was the Messiah.” But the line mentioned about the gospels not being histories is omitted.   P53 BLP textbook - Muslims honor Abraham as the first monotheist, worshipper of the one true God they call Allah...   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P29 BLP textbook - Other origin stores tell of many different gods who themselves are created, and who work together or fight against one another to create out of the remains of previous creations. In contrast the first part of Genesis describes one God who is self sufficient, powerful and benevolent. Wields the compass of a master architect to bring order out of chaos.   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same except for the last line about wielding “the compass of a master architect to bring order out of chaos.” It is replaced with “The God of Genesis, who needs nothing, chooses to create anyway. God creates not from leftovers but out of that chaos, or as the contemporary scholar Robert Alter translates it, “out of welter and waste.”   P357 BLP textbook - The Western understanding of the movement from suffering to redemption and the notion of an end time…   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P31 BLP textbook - How might Genesis 1:28 be used to justify either or both sides of environmental debates or animal rights legislation?   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P35 BLP textbook - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) stated in his novel The Brothers Karamazov, "If there is no God, then all things are permitted. Find this passage and read it in context.  Then, write a short story about a world in which all things are permitted.”   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same.   P365 BLP textbook  [Almost a full page promotion of UNESCO] "The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.   Teachers Edition: This verbiage remains the same. Bible Literacy Project Corrections to Bible Textbook are Non Sequitur Contact: Wiley Drake, 2nd Vice President of The Southern Baptist Convention, 714-865-8132   http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/487652532.html   MEDIA ADVISORY, Mar. 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. John Hagee, of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Tx., called "The Bible and Its Influence" "a masterful work of deception, distortion and outright falsehoods." Bible Literacy Project Communications Vice President Sheila Weber has claimed that "misrepresentations" about the textbook "The Bible and Its Influence" have been corrected. However, many of Hagees' strongest concerns remain unchanged.   Page 29 of the Bible Literacy Project textbook reads "other origin stories tell of many gods who are created, etc." Hagee says this "plants the concept in the mind of children that polytheism is just as acceptable as monotheism, which is contrary to the Bible." Also unchanged is a Bible quotation from an interpretation by Dr. Robert Alter, an endorser of and contributor to the textbook, saying God created the world "out of welter and waste." Hagee contends this leaves a "completely wrong" impression of the creation account. Hagee says the unchanged phrase on page 34 promotes polytheism: "By contrast, some traditions and philosophies see humans as no more or less sacred than other living creatures."   Below is just a sampling of some of the troubling passages in the latest version of "The Bible and Its Influence" that remain unchanged:   "Job is one of the most difficult books in the Bible in that it provides no clear cut moral or answer to Job's situation." (page 161)   "God's help comes with strings attached – commandments or laws that the Israelites must obey in order to keep faith." (page 72)   "The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.' [Job 42:12] This ending, though pleasing in some ways, has failed to satisfy various readers over the centuries." (page 160)   "It is always good to remember not to try to apply current standards to the biblical accounts." (page 50)   "Many students although aware of good and evil, have not thought deeply about it. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is considered to be good, all knowing and all powerful. Yet this view presents a problem." (page 163)   "Gideon won the battle by a bit of trickery." (page 81)   "The pattern of family trickery and deceit continues." (page 56 speaking of the family of Abraham)   "American writer and reporter Lincoln Steffen's 1926 defense of Leninist (Communist) politics was called 'Moses in Red.'" (page 65)   The text's dialectic method of questioning faith is reinforced on page 13 where it claims William Tyndale, translator of the Bible, "coined such phrases as 'Let there be light,' 'My brother's keeper,' and more. Teachers are instructed to "Devote particular attention to the phrases coined by Tyndale." This creates doubt over the true author of the Bible. Tyndale only translated the Bible, but the Bible Literacy Project implies that he was the one coining the phrases and writing the sentences.   It is obvious why the National Council on Islamic Education has endorsed the guidelines to which the textbook was written. Teachers are instructed "to explain that the traditional Islamic reading of this story [ sic. Abraham and Isaac] (incorporated into the Qur'an) substitutes Ishmael for Isaac; Muslims see Ishmael as the oldest son and true successor to Abraham." In the revised student text, students read "Muslims honor Abraham as the first monotheist, worshipper of the one true God they call Allah." The text further states that "They [Muslims] prize the covenant God made with Hagar when she was abandoned in the wilderness" and quotes scripture supporting the statement. The text never mentions that the Bible states that Ishmael is not an heir to Abraham.   As Dr. Hagee said about the Bible Literacy Project textbook, "distortions, deceptions and falsehoods never produce moral, emotional, political or intellectual health." This is especially true when the Bible is compromised with liberal interpretations, justification of communism, and implications that God's chosen people were deceptive liars. The fact is, the Bible Literacy Project's revisions fall far short of allaying deep concerns about their textbook, "The Bible and Its Influence."

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